Management of Sunyani Technical University has launched a 300 million-cedi endowment fund and the 55th anniversary celebrations of the institution during its 14th Congregation ceremony in Sunyani.
The event was under the theme “STU, 55 years of progress and achievement in TVET and engineering education: mobilizing excellence for leadership in Ghana’s industrialization agenda”.
Speaking at the event, the Chairman of the University’s Governing Council, Ing. Dr. Kwame Agyeman Boakye, said the institution is focused to lead Ghana’s industrialization agenda to reduce poverty and attain Ghana without aid, among others.
He, however, said this can only be achieved if all stakeholders will support with resources for a well-grounded sustainable human and infrastructure development that will help build the capacity of the youths expected to play key roles in the agenda.
Dr. Agyeman Boakye said the theme for the occasion is an indication that STU is not content with its past achievement, “but very much focused on the present and the future of leading Ghana’s industrialization agenda to achieve national objectives for poverty reduction, the competitiveness of enterprises, sustainable environmental management, industrial growth, and Ghana without aid”.
To achieve this, the council chairman said it requires the support of all stakeholders to enable the institution to build the capacity of students with the right personnel and infrastructure.
He, however, said resources need to be marshaled and crystalized into an endowment fund to have the support institutionalized, strengthened, and sustained to achieve the desired objectives.
Endowment Fund
He therefore said the STU Endowment Fund is to help reduce the needs of the university and drive forward its human capital and infrastructure development per the Strategic Plan and Master Plan.
Dr. Agyeman Boakye therefore appealed to all stakeholders to generously donate to the fund to help the university’s development and the industrial development of Ghana.
The paramount chief of Dormaa Traditional Area, Osagyefo Oseadeayo Agyemang Badu II, and the Bono Regional Minister, Justina Owusu Banahene, pledged 10,000 cedis each, while the council chairman and members, the Vice-Chancellor, management and staff of the university also pledged to contribute one million cedis to support the endowment fund.
The Council chairman also appealed to the government to provide an asphalt overlay for the major roads within the university, which is dusty during the dry season and muddy when it rains.
He thanked the government for granting STU the full package of the AVIC Ultra-Modern Laboratory Complex Project, under the collaboration between the government of Ghana and China.
Determination
The Vice-Chancellor, Ing. Prof Kwadwo Adinkrah-Appiah, urged the graduates to eschew complacency after school and strive to be self-reliant with the skills acquired.
He insisted they would succeed with determination if they make good use of the knowledge imbibed them at the university.
The VC said “the structure of the academic programs at the STU has adequately prepared you to be self-reliant as employers and not employees and as job creators and not job seekers”.
Though he admitted the Covid-19 pandemic had created gaps in the national and global economies, he said it also serves as opportunities for Engineering, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), and Entrepreneurially-skilled graduates.
The institution was founded in 1967 as Sunyani Technical Institute to contribute to the technical human resource needs of Ghana.
It was upgraded to Polytechnic in 1997 when the government decided to emphasize Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).
In 2016, it was converted to a Technical University following the promulgation of the Technical Universities Act, 2016 (Act 922) as amended.
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